With the wide use of smart TV and PC TV, TV is able to process various functions such as VOD, app, games, SNS, banking, shopping, and information search as well as the functions of conventional channel TV or IPTV. In order to select and control these various function, remote controllers with at least 50 buttons having multiple functions are usually used. It is hard to be well-acquainted with the functions of buttons different among remote controllers and there are more than a few occasions requiring at least 30 times of button pressing when a large scale of VOD content is search, so that these remote controllers have lost their original purposes of allowing users to easily and quickly use a wanted function with a single gesture.
Many user interfaces for controlling a cursor displayed on an imaging apparatus using a remote controller equipped with a motion sensor, an optical track pad (OTP), or a touch pad have been introduced. User interface controlling a cursor includes complicate stages of 1) displaying a home menu on a screen; 2) selecting a menu item by moving a cursor; 3) changing a sub menu page multiple times; and 4) selecting a sub menu item multiple times. This type of interface frustrates users who want to select a function with a gesture or two so that the users eventually give up on using many functions provided in an imaging apparatus.
In case where a plurality of menu icons are provided on a sensor touch surface of a remote controller and a menu item is selected by selecting the menu icon and performing touch movement, when a user searches for a menu item by doing touch movement several times, it is hard for the user to select the icon without seeing the remote controller and there is no touch space enough to apply second and third touch movement in order to extend a search procedure since most of the area of the touch surface is divided for and occupied by the menu icons.
A method of neutrally using a part of a touch area is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0014020 (of Apple Inc.) in which a gesture is analyzed into a different command according to context. This method relates to user interface for analyzing touch input data received from an unstructuralized touch input area based on the current context of GUI to determine a command from a group of potential commands. According to this method, multiple gestures are required since a single gesture executes a single command and one gesture is analyzed into different commands according to context.
A method of selecting a remote controller command according to a touch movement is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1101945. This patent whose inventor is the same as the present invention relates to user interface for generating a one-time command and a repetitive command according to an initial touch region and an initial touch movement direction and for setting touch regions corresponding to commands to overlap each other on a touch surface of a remote controller so that the size of an effective touch region changes, thereby realizing efficient use. According to the method, a unique command or menu mode cannot be set in an overlapping area and at least one more gesture is required to distinctively select either a beginning stage or a proceeding stage of a menu search.
A method of inputting text corresponding to a relative coordinate generated according to a touch movement vector is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0720335. The patent whose inventor is the same as the present invention relates to user interface for selecting a menu item at one level (usually a two-dimensional lattice structure) such as several tens of TV channels or a keypad using a single touch movement.
A method and apparatus for inputting a command or data according to the distance and direction change of a touch movement is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0942821. The patent whose inventor is the same as the present invention relates to user interface for selecting a menu item at one level based on the distance of touch movement from a reference point and seamlessly moving to a lower level through the direction change of the touch movement, thereby allowing a large scale of menu structured in several levels to be searched using a single or minimum touch movement. This method allows at least 100 to several million menu items to be searched using a single circular or zigzag touch movement.